I move amendment No. 91a.:—
In page 18, to delete Section 42 (4) and substitute a new sub-section as follows:—
(4) Whenever an agreement is registered in the register, the following provisions shall, on and after the date on which such agreement is so registered and for so long thereafter as it continues to be binding on the parties thereto, have effect in relation to such agreement, that is to say:
(a) such agreement shall be binding on every employer concerned in the form of industrial work in the area to which such agreement relates and on every worker or, where such agreement relates only to a class of workers, every worker in such class employed in the said form of industrial work in the said area;
(b) it shall not be lawful for any such employer to employ or pay any such worker at a rate of salary, wages or other reward which is less than the rate provided by such agreement and applicable to such worker;
(c) if any such employer employs or pays any such worker in contravention to the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, such employer shall be guilty of an offence under this section;
(d) subject to the provisions of the next following paragraph of this sub-section, every such worker shall, notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, be entitled to demand from and be paid by and to recover from his employer salary, wages, or other reward at the rate provided by such agreement and applicable to such worker;
(e) nothing contained in this sub-section shall operate to prevent any such employer from employing or paying any such worker salary, wages or other reward at a rate greater or more beneficial to such worker than the rate provided by such agreement and applicable to such worker, or operate to prevent any such worker who is so employed at such greater or more beneficial rate of salary, wages, or other reward from recovering from his employer salary, wages or other reward at such greater or more beneficial rate.
The amendment is one which caused considerable difficulty, not merely in the drafting but, also, in the minds of certain people interested who read into the sub-section what was not intended to be there. Whether in fact it was there or not is another question. The purpose of the whole section is to ensure that when an organisation, of employers, representing a majority of the employers, in a particular industry, and an organisation of workers, representing the majority of the workers in the same industry, come to an agreement as to the rates of wages that should operate, then that agreement may be presented to the Minister for Industry and Commerce for registration. If accepted by him and registered, the wages specified in the agreement become enforceable throughout the whole industry; and a minority of employers, not already in the agreement, become liable to pay those rates of wages to their workers, or at any rate liable to pay not less than those rates of wages to their workers. Three attempts have been made to get the agreement into a form to which no objection would be taken. The difficulty, I frankly admit, was due to my desire that the enforcement of the agreed rate of wages should not be the obligation of the Department of Industry and Commerce. All the difficulty in framing the new section was due to the fact that I was anxious to provide that the enforcement of the agreed rate would be something the worker himself would have to undertake without the assistance of the Department.
I have come to the conclusion that it is not practicable and that the ways by which an agreed rate could be evaded are so many, that unless it is made an offence by law, in the ordinary way, the whole scheme could not be operated. The significance of the new amendment is that it proposes to make it an offence for the employer to pay less than the registered rate of wages. There is one possible further amendment required and it is on a matter upon which opinions may differ. The new sub-section (4) proposes to provide that when an agreement was registered the following things may happen: First, all such agreements shall be binding for every employer in the class of work to which the agreement relates, and secondly, binding upon every worker as well. It is in relation to the second paragraph that I think a further amendment would be necessary, because, as Deputies who read the amendment will notice, there is no penalty provided for the worker if he accepts less than the agreed rate. Of course, the prospect of the increased rates of wages being evaded arises from the possibility of collusion between the employer and employee. It is not inconceivable, in certain circumstances. It is considered that it shall not be lawful for any employer in any industry concerned, to pay less than the agreed rate. If he pays lees than the agreed rate he is guilty of an offence, and the worker is entitled, on his own behalf, to go to the courts and recover the amount that he is being underpaid. And it is provided that nothing in the section shall operate to prevent an employer paying a higher rate, or of making it impossible for the worker to recover the agreed higher rates through the courts in the event of the employer not following up his contract. I think this section is now completely operative. I think it gets over the objections which were raised to the original sub-section, and the only query in my mind in that connection is whether it is necessary or desirable that we should have another paragraph providing that it would be an offence for the worker to take less than the agreed rate. I think it would be a safeguard to have that, although it looks rather strange to enforce by legal penalties on the worker his obligation to get the registered rate of wages. At the same time one cannot ignore the possibility of that situation arising in particular circumstances. I think this amendment is a decided improvement on the original sub-section (4), whereas the amendment which I proposed originally, and which is embodied in the sheet of amendments, is open to a possible interpretation which would nullify it altogether in so far as it does not appear to make it invalid or illegal for an employer to pay less than the agreed rate.